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50 States of Song 2019
' 50 States of Song 2019' is the fourth edition of the 50 States of Song music contest, which is taking place between March and July 2019. The contest, which is produced and directed by gplehner, features song entries from all 50 states and one US territory. Rules The rules for 50 States of Song 2019 are loosely based around the Eurovision Song Contest, with some minor differences. There will be one large rule change for the 2019 contest: *The song must be between 3 and 4 minutes long. This is updated from the 2016-18 contests, in which songs had to be under 3 minutes and 30 seconds. The rest of the rules from previous editions applied: *The song must be an original composition. No covers! *The artist or band must live in or be from the U.S. state they represent. *The artist or band must not have had a Top 40 hit on several of the Billboard charts at any time prior to the contest. This guarantees up-and-coming artists only. *The artist must be 14 years or older as of the year of their song's release (They must be born before January 1st, 2005.) *Artists who placed in the Top 10 of the previous edition are not allowed to re-enter for one year. *The song should be accompanied by a music video. *In this contest's edition, songs must have been publicly released between January and December 2018. Venue The song contest is held entirely online, but a "host" city is chosen to coincide with the U.S. state of the winning entry from the previous contest. In this case, Alaska is the host state, and Anchorage is the host city. The Final Round was "held" in Atwood Concert Hall. The goal was to attend the host city and film on location for the contest, but because Alaska is not part of mainland America, it was not possible to travel to the host state in 2019. State Song Selections Whereas most entries were decided internally, there were three state song selections were held in 2019 and allowed voters to choose the entrry: California, New York, and Tennessee. Each state selection featured ten songs, and interested voters contributed points towards their favorites to determine the winners. The points system for the state-level selections changed from 2018, in that each voter was required to give their points on a 10-8-6-4-2-1 scale. The remaining four songs would receive no points; this was to make it less likely that a tie for 1st place would occur. Tennessee The 2nd Tennessean state selection for 50 States of Song featured ten songs, none of which were returning artists from the previous year. The entry from The Wild Feathers had to be censored in the video due to audiovisual copyright claims. The winner was revealed on March 3rd, four days after voting ended. The winner, Zayde Wolf, won convincingly with a nearly perfect score from the jury. California The Californian state selection was the first-ever selection for the state, and also featured ten original acts, most from the Los Angeles region. New York The 2nd New York state selection featured ten acts, one of which (Fly By Midnight) returned after finishing last in the previous year's selection. The winning song, "Lonely Star," features some provocative lyrics but was given permission to compete; it was also the only winning song not to receive at least one point from each voter. Semifinals To qualify for the Final Round, 50 entries were randomly drawn into two groups of 25, and then ordered randomly. This was consistent with the 2018 edition, but in contrast to previous years, the voting for semifinals took place at different times. The winning state's song (Alaska) automatically qualified to the Final Round. The "Jury" voting system stayed the same in 2019. Jury voting was structured in the 'Eurovision' style, on a 1 to 12 scale, with 12 points given to the juror's favorite song, and progressing down 10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 points for their ten favorite songs out of 25. Jurors were allowed to vote for both semifinals. The Public voting was kept in 2019 for the Final Round only. In 2018, there was public and jury voting in both the semifinals and Final Round. Semifinal Results The semifinals determined which 12 songs would progress to the Final Round. Semifinal 1 Voting for Semifinal 1 opened on April 6th, 2019, and closed on April 27th. Late votes were accepted until May 4th, and the qualifying entries were announced on June 2nd. Semifinal 2 Voting for Semifinal 2 opened on May 11th 2019, and ended on May 27th. The qualifiers were announced on June 2nd. Final Round The 2019 Final Round featured 12 qualifying songs from each semifinal, as well as the host state's entry, for a grand total of 25 songs. The voting period stayed open for around four weeks. Voters had to analyze the 25 songs, which were ordered randomly, and submit a ballot via survey. The voting method was the same as the 2018 Final Round voting process (Jury/Public split), but the public voting structure is different from the jury. The Final Round was broken into five groups of five songs, and the listener had to rank each group of five songs from most favorite (5) to least favorite (1). The five songs that received a "5" got 3 points, songs with a "4" received 2 points, and songs with a "3" received 1 point. This was lessened from 2018 (5 pts, 3 pts, 1 pt. respectively.) The Public overall points were then adjusted to account for 50% of the overall points each, which required the total score to be multiplied by approximately 53%. Final Results Twenty-five US states participated in the Final Round. The voting period is expected to open in early June 2019, and close at the end of June 2019. The results were announced on 29 July 2019. Tabular Results Below are the reorganized tabular ballots of the Semifinals (jury vote only) and Final Round (50% Jury, and 50% Public Vote). Semifinal One *Connecticut beat Colorado on a tiebreaker due to receiving more votes (6 vs. 5) from jurors. *Pennsylvania beat Idaho on a tiebreaker due to receiving more votes (5 vs. 3) from jurors. Semifinal Two *Michigan and New York tied for 1st place with 63 points. Due to tiebreaker rules, Michigan won the semifinal for recieving more votes (10) than New York (9). *Virginia and West Virigina tied for 12th place, but only one song could qualify. Virginia qualified due to receiving more votes (6 vs 4) from voters. *Several other songs in this semifinal were tied. The only other one of note where the first rule could not be used was 22nd through 24th places (6 points each). 22nd belongs to Nebraska outright, for recieving points from 2 different jurors. 23rd (Kentucky) and 24th (Delaware) were decided by earliest in the running order. Final Round Category:50 States of Song Category:Contests